South Elgin strikes early vs. Glenbard North
Sisler scores twice in 1st 11 minutes to lead Storm to 4-2 win
By Gary Larsen
SOUTH ELGIN -- South Elgin graduated a lot of scoring punch from last year, so senior mid Alex Kirkby saw this year’s Storm as a question mark.
“Going into the season I didn’t think we’d be a team that could score more than two goals in a game,” Kirkby said. “We graduated four of our five forwards from last season. So it’s nice to see our forwards coming together and get four goals today.”
South Elgin’s 4-2 nonconference win over visiting Glenbard North on Thursday featured a pair of goals from sophomore striker Anthony Sisler, scored in the game’s eighth and 11th minutes, to quickly put Glenbard North in deep water.
South Elgin (7-8-2) gave up two set-piece goals to Glenbard North (2-10-2) in the second half, but kept the lead throughout with goals from Nick Flores and Chris Stanczyk after intermission.
“We scored some goals, which was good,” South Elgin coach Simon Brinklow said, “but I don’t think we played that well, to be perfectly honest.
“But we just talked about trying to win some games over our last few games and get some momentum (for the postseason). So without playing particularly well, I’m glad we won. It’s important to get the win.”
Senior mid Stanczyk assisted on Sisler’s first score and Elijah Patrick earned the helper on the second.
South Elgin is the 10th-seed of this year’s Class 3A Streamwood Sectional, and Glenbard North is seeded 15th at Conant’s 3A sectional. Glenbard North is in a regional play-in game against 18th-seeded Bartlett on Oct. 14 at West Chicago, while South Elgin opens the postseason in a regional semifinal at 6th-seeded Guilford on Oct. 17.
With those dates fast-approaching, both teams entered Thursday’s game aiming to gain some late-season momentum. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Sisler’s two early goals didn’t get them off on the right foot.
“It’s Groundhog Day,” Glenbard North Gregg Koeller said. “We had a two-minute span in the first half where we just broke down. It’s 2-0 at half, we change our formation to a 4-5-1, and come out and make it 2-1 and we’re pushing and we’re pushing. But we allowed a couple soft goals early, and we can’t afford to do that.”
The dreaded two-goal lead that tends to haunt soccer teams had its effect on the Storm, which eased up in the face of Glenbard North’s increased intensity.
“I definitely felt it, and it shouldn’t have happened, because if they score one goal then they’re back in it,” Kirkby said. “Luckily we closed out the game and we did what we needed to do but we can’t let that happen.”
Glenbard North attacked hard for much of the second half and cut the Storm’s lead in half when senior mid Best Emena sent a corner kick to the near post at 56 minutes.
Senior striker Fabrizio Guajardo received it in the post, whirled and fired, and senior defender Evan Scott was there to clean it up with a shot that rolled inside the far post from eight yards.
The Storm answered with attacking pressure and 10 minutes later were rewarded with a free kick, 30 yards from goal. Flores blistered it to the right-side upper ninety to get his side back to a two-goal cushion.
Stanczyk took a pass from Flores at 77 minutes and scored from outside the top of the 18-yard box to make it 4-1.
Glenbard North got its final goal when Guajardo scored from point-blank range after another Emena corner kick hit the carpet in front of the Storm’s net.
“The other day we gave up two goals on throw-ins, and we can’t be conceding those,” Brinklow said. “Over the course of the game I think we played okay, but those (lapses) are going to cost us at the end of the season if we concede goals from corners like that.”
Emena is the quick and skilled catalyst of the Panthers’ attack and he dribbled around defenders through the midfield consistently in the second half, sending quality passes up each touchline throughout.
Kirkby and Emena have previously played on the same club team, so the South Elgin midfielder was infinitely familiar with the danger presented by the Glenbard North senior.
“We’re friends,” Kirkby said. “During club season, the first few months that he came to my team, I didn’t how to defend him at all. I finally figured out just to stick my body on him to try to show him who’s boss.”
Kirkby is a defender on his club team but plays center mid for the Storm. He and his midfield mates have worked hard all year to gain a rapport with their new core of strikers.
“It’s been hard, but we’ve built chemistry over time,” Kirkby said. “We’ve had a lot of captain’s practices, and we’re all hanging out off the field, too, which I think helps a lot. In recent weeks we’ve gotten close. You might not think it’s as important as it is, but as we hang out off the pitch more we’ve developed a spirit to fight for each other, where we didn’t have that before.”
Brinklow applauded another consistent day’s work put in by Kirkby and appreciates what Sisler has been giving him. Sisler’s two goals earned him Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honors.
“(Sisler) is a sophomore, and he has grown through the season,” Brinklow said. “He’s been contributing a lot for us over the last four or five games.”
Emena’s exceptional play as a midfield distributor also showed the progress that a bevy of varsity newcomers have made this year.
“The nice thing is that our really young outside mids are starting to be there when the runs are made,” Koeller said. “It’s taken two months, but I knew it would.”
Koeller was asked if Glenbard North seniors Emena, Guajardo, Brian Dasso, Sam Pauling, Erik Lopez, and Josh Lopez have struggled with a team of young players still finding their way as varsity soccer players.
“They’ve been frustrated but never aggravated, and mainly frustrated with the scoreboard,” Koeller said. “But we’ve talked long and hard about the fact that the scoreboard doesn’t define who you are or what you’re trying to do.
“As a coach I’m a realist so I understand this is their senior year, and it’s all they have. But they’ve been great, they really have. We’ve had no internal strife. We’ve played teams that are beating us, and they’re chirping at each other, and our kids never do that. And that’s not always easy when you’re 17.”
Starting lineups
South Elgin
GK Brian Dykstra
D Sergio Briones
D Jacob Zupan
D Zack Rys
D Kevin Guerrero
M Eduardo Carillo
M Rolando Martinez
M Alex Kirkby
F Chris Stanczyk
F Anthony Sisler
F Jack McCall
Glenbard North
GK Martin Argirov
D Ben Solano
D Evan Scott
D Danny Le
D Andres Sanchez
M Ode Emena
M Best Emena
M Abood Nasr
M Nestor Dominguez
M Jesse Aragon
F Fabrizio Guajardo
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Anthony Sisler, so. F, South Elgin
Sisler scores twice in 1st 11 minutes to lead Storm to 4-2 win
By Gary Larsen
SOUTH ELGIN -- South Elgin graduated a lot of scoring punch from last year, so senior mid Alex Kirkby saw this year’s Storm as a question mark.
“Going into the season I didn’t think we’d be a team that could score more than two goals in a game,” Kirkby said. “We graduated four of our five forwards from last season. So it’s nice to see our forwards coming together and get four goals today.”
South Elgin’s 4-2 nonconference win over visiting Glenbard North on Thursday featured a pair of goals from sophomore striker Anthony Sisler, scored in the game’s eighth and 11th minutes, to quickly put Glenbard North in deep water.
South Elgin (7-8-2) gave up two set-piece goals to Glenbard North (2-10-2) in the second half, but kept the lead throughout with goals from Nick Flores and Chris Stanczyk after intermission.
“We scored some goals, which was good,” South Elgin coach Simon Brinklow said, “but I don’t think we played that well, to be perfectly honest.
“But we just talked about trying to win some games over our last few games and get some momentum (for the postseason). So without playing particularly well, I’m glad we won. It’s important to get the win.”
Senior mid Stanczyk assisted on Sisler’s first score and Elijah Patrick earned the helper on the second.
South Elgin is the 10th-seed of this year’s Class 3A Streamwood Sectional, and Glenbard North is seeded 15th at Conant’s 3A sectional. Glenbard North is in a regional play-in game against 18th-seeded Bartlett on Oct. 14 at West Chicago, while South Elgin opens the postseason in a regional semifinal at 6th-seeded Guilford on Oct. 17.
With those dates fast-approaching, both teams entered Thursday’s game aiming to gain some late-season momentum. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Sisler’s two early goals didn’t get them off on the right foot.
“It’s Groundhog Day,” Glenbard North Gregg Koeller said. “We had a two-minute span in the first half where we just broke down. It’s 2-0 at half, we change our formation to a 4-5-1, and come out and make it 2-1 and we’re pushing and we’re pushing. But we allowed a couple soft goals early, and we can’t afford to do that.”
The dreaded two-goal lead that tends to haunt soccer teams had its effect on the Storm, which eased up in the face of Glenbard North’s increased intensity.
“I definitely felt it, and it shouldn’t have happened, because if they score one goal then they’re back in it,” Kirkby said. “Luckily we closed out the game and we did what we needed to do but we can’t let that happen.”
Glenbard North attacked hard for much of the second half and cut the Storm’s lead in half when senior mid Best Emena sent a corner kick to the near post at 56 minutes.
Senior striker Fabrizio Guajardo received it in the post, whirled and fired, and senior defender Evan Scott was there to clean it up with a shot that rolled inside the far post from eight yards.
The Storm answered with attacking pressure and 10 minutes later were rewarded with a free kick, 30 yards from goal. Flores blistered it to the right-side upper ninety to get his side back to a two-goal cushion.
Stanczyk took a pass from Flores at 77 minutes and scored from outside the top of the 18-yard box to make it 4-1.
Glenbard North got its final goal when Guajardo scored from point-blank range after another Emena corner kick hit the carpet in front of the Storm’s net.
“The other day we gave up two goals on throw-ins, and we can’t be conceding those,” Brinklow said. “Over the course of the game I think we played okay, but those (lapses) are going to cost us at the end of the season if we concede goals from corners like that.”
Emena is the quick and skilled catalyst of the Panthers’ attack and he dribbled around defenders through the midfield consistently in the second half, sending quality passes up each touchline throughout.
Kirkby and Emena have previously played on the same club team, so the South Elgin midfielder was infinitely familiar with the danger presented by the Glenbard North senior.
“We’re friends,” Kirkby said. “During club season, the first few months that he came to my team, I didn’t how to defend him at all. I finally figured out just to stick my body on him to try to show him who’s boss.”
Kirkby is a defender on his club team but plays center mid for the Storm. He and his midfield mates have worked hard all year to gain a rapport with their new core of strikers.
“It’s been hard, but we’ve built chemistry over time,” Kirkby said. “We’ve had a lot of captain’s practices, and we’re all hanging out off the field, too, which I think helps a lot. In recent weeks we’ve gotten close. You might not think it’s as important as it is, but as we hang out off the pitch more we’ve developed a spirit to fight for each other, where we didn’t have that before.”
Brinklow applauded another consistent day’s work put in by Kirkby and appreciates what Sisler has been giving him. Sisler’s two goals earned him Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honors.
“(Sisler) is a sophomore, and he has grown through the season,” Brinklow said. “He’s been contributing a lot for us over the last four or five games.”
Emena’s exceptional play as a midfield distributor also showed the progress that a bevy of varsity newcomers have made this year.
“The nice thing is that our really young outside mids are starting to be there when the runs are made,” Koeller said. “It’s taken two months, but I knew it would.”
Koeller was asked if Glenbard North seniors Emena, Guajardo, Brian Dasso, Sam Pauling, Erik Lopez, and Josh Lopez have struggled with a team of young players still finding their way as varsity soccer players.
“They’ve been frustrated but never aggravated, and mainly frustrated with the scoreboard,” Koeller said. “But we’ve talked long and hard about the fact that the scoreboard doesn’t define who you are or what you’re trying to do.
“As a coach I’m a realist so I understand this is their senior year, and it’s all they have. But they’ve been great, they really have. We’ve had no internal strife. We’ve played teams that are beating us, and they’re chirping at each other, and our kids never do that. And that’s not always easy when you’re 17.”
Starting lineups
South Elgin
GK Brian Dykstra
D Sergio Briones
D Jacob Zupan
D Zack Rys
D Kevin Guerrero
M Eduardo Carillo
M Rolando Martinez
M Alex Kirkby
F Chris Stanczyk
F Anthony Sisler
F Jack McCall
Glenbard North
GK Martin Argirov
D Ben Solano
D Evan Scott
D Danny Le
D Andres Sanchez
M Ode Emena
M Best Emena
M Abood Nasr
M Nestor Dominguez
M Jesse Aragon
F Fabrizio Guajardo
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Anthony Sisler, so. F, South Elgin